Erik

Yep. Coastal Redwood. Stuff grows on trees around here! A large % of my jobs are redwood removals and I always try and keep the good stuff for my personal stash. I'm gonna start building my lovely wife a new home soon and it will be completely made out of the good old stuff.

good day of milling.

I frequently do big removal jobs straight across for the logs. When I tell the homeowner that its not going to cost them a dime they look at me like I am insane, until I explain to them the value of the logs once they are turned into lumber or slabs. The tree in the pictures was one such job. Did 3 trees for the logs and walked with 16000-18000 board feet of extremely high quality redwood. I'm good with that!

Those are some beautiful slabs. Nature as art. Wabi Sabi.

Just teasing you a bit. Both the coastal’s and the Sequoia’s are true wonders of the world that everyone should try and see at least once in their life. The Sequoias are not nearly as numerous and grow in a very limited area. The fact that their wood is extremely brittle, and hard to work with was probably what saved them from extinction. The coastal on the other hand offers some of the nicest softwood on the planet, and they grow like a weed in their natural environment. We did our best to run them into exstiction, but luckily cooler heads prevailed.

Sequoia? Blasphemy! This is coastal Redwood which is on another level when it comes to quality of the wood. I Iive and work in an undisclosed location deep down in some holler in northern California. A few pics of the tree which produced this log. Climb em, kill em, skid em, mill em. One stop shopping.

After a long wet winter the sun is finally out, and the Lucas is once again spitting out lumber. Gawd I love spring!

I have had Lyme disease and many of the associated coinfections for 30 years. This shit is no joke, so trust me when I tell you that you do not want what I got. A spray containing DEET will help, but is not exactly healthy. Most of the herbal essential oil formulas I have tried have been pretty hit and miss in their effectiveness. Tick proof clothing? Really? Your best line of defense is frequent inspections throughout the day, and educating yourself with the facts concerning ticks, Lyme disease, and the others coinfections associated with ticks. If you do get bit the best thing you can do is save the tick and send it in for testing. If there is any doubt take doxycycline for 4-6 weeks too make sure you have killed the bacteria. Chronic Lyme related issues kill people, so better safe than sorry. A worldwide epidemic and the fastest growing vector born bacterial infection on the planet.

Positive thoughts and sunshine being sent from NorCal.

My sincere apologies Ian.

I apologize if I am way off base here, but if you do really harbor these feelings I would humbly suggest you check out arboristsite. A snowflake free zone, with plenty of homophobia, islamophopia, racism, sexism, and general ignorance being spewed over there. You might be happier than a pig in shit? Who knows?

As someone who spends 99.99999% of my climbing life in spurs I will say that the La Sportivas Makalu is the best spur boot I have ever used. Super comfy when broken in, relatively light weight, and true all day support when standing in spurs. After 40 years in spurs I have climbed in just about every lineman boot know to man, and all the latest and greatest climbing/mountaineer boots. If you spend a lot of time in gaff, give em' a try!

This is news to me? We have major SOD problems here, but I have seen no evidence of SOD crossing over into the Reds. Haven't even heard it being suggested around here? SOD is definitely linked to the Umbellularia Californica here, and I have my suspicions that it is also infecting some stressed Firs.

Nothing special. Just a simple old-school life climbing, skidding, and milling. Still raining here, but I will make a quick little teeter totter vid later this week.

It’s just one of those little tricks I was fortunate enough to pick up along the way. Just kind of took it for granted that most folks knew about it. Glad I could spread a little teeter totter love!

I have used this technique while speed-lining, vertical speed-lining, picking 40 ft logs with a crane, lowering wood to itself, swinging wood to another tree, and flushing off big stumps. It can be an extremely effective tool in all these scenarios. Give it a try sometime. Who knows, you might find a place for it in your work.

A rod would certainly work, but one made out of metal would be a no go for me. I always carry falling wedges and a small axe when working down wood so that is what I use. I learned this trick 37-38 years ago from a kickass native Indian logger in Alaska. An amazing mentor who taught me plenty, but this simple little trick is one of my favorites. I couldn’t imagine life without it, as I use it frequently, and in many different scenarios.

Agree that on smaller stuff wedges are usually not necessary, and a slight angle can certainly help. As the teeter totter is ultra simple I am going to attempt to describe it. You start cutting through your wood and continue until the wood begins to sit down fairly hard on your saw, which is always beyond centerline. At this point you tap a wedge in right behind the bar near the tip, and you also tap a wedge in right behind the bar near the power head. First you just lifted the wood off your bar, and since the wedges are well beyond the halfway point you have created a tether totter effect which will allow the heavier wood behind the wedges to simply lift the wood off your bar as you finish your cut. Works like butter and is an extremely effective cut when your are forced to cut tator chips in bigger wood, as seen in Giorgio’s vid. A caveman simple technique that every treeman should have in his toolbox. Hopefully I made this clear, but if not I will make a vid soon.

As one of the offending members, I have seen the error of my ways and would like to apologize for any harm my comment might have inflicted. In my defense I never received the memo stating that the questioning of another members possible over-estimation of the height of a tree was out of bounds. Duly noted, and it will never happen again.

Best vid I have seen in a long while Reg, and some beautiful work as usual. Sorry to get all sappy and serious on you, but u really are a cut above buddy.

As I said you did some beautiful work Giorgio, so please don’t take my comment with offense. Just trying to keep it real. My guestimation is based on the fact that I have spent my entire life living and working among Redwoods in the 125-250 ft. mdvaden figured the tree was 100 ft, and based on his amazing pictures I would imagine he has spent a fair amount of time looking at 150 ft trees? As neither of us was there, who are we to argue. If you say it was 150ft, then a 150 ft it is! You clearly have no idea what I'm talking about when I speak of the teeter totter with wedges trick. It is not used to wedge over pieces, but a crafty, old school way of using wedges to keep the weight off your saw through the entire cut. Super simple, and particular effective when cutting potato chip pieces off a big spar. When done cutting, the wedges also make sliding the piece of the spar much easier. Toss it to the ground, into a vertical speed-line, or into a lowering line. Whatever floats your boat. This technique also works wonders when taking big vertical logs with a crane, or when making a flush cut on a big stump. Instead of trying to explain this very simple technique, I will make a short vid when it stops raining here.

Beautiful old 60" Redwood log locked and loaded!

Yep. 120-125 ft at the most, and certainly not 150 ft. Very nice work nonetheless! Sequoia is not on the same level as Coastal Redwood when it comes to lumber. As this tree was growing way outside its natural environment, the wood looks to be very subpar. As such, I for one don’t feel too bad seeing it cut into firewood. Those very short pieces he was cutting would have been the perfect time to use the old teeter totter with wedges technique, me thinks.

I appreciate the kind words Stephen. I have been living with a chronic case of Lyme disease for 25 years, which really forced me to change my ways, begin living an extremely clean lifestyle, and to learn to truly care of my body. Funny how something as devastating as Lyme has been a blessing to me in many ways. Everyone just assumed I was headed for an early grave or prison before Lyme showed up to saved my ass. Life really is a crazy, crooked road.